posted Nov 28th, 2018 - The situation on the top level of the A Class leaderboard at the ISR Grand Prix 2018 was very similar to the AAA and AA Class. Each of the two top teams in the gold and silver medal positions had secured the finishing positions without a serious challenge for the winners, while several teams battled for the bronze medals.

A Class winner MAD Team from Poland could be expected to be one of the top contenders, after posting a 23.8 average at the 5th Flyspot Polish Open in September. MAD Team had spent the 2017 indoor season in Poland's Rookie Class competition and finished off the first year in 4-way competition with a 1st place at the World Challenge 2018.

MAD Team moved up into the A Class after the perfect conclusion of the Rookie Class time and attended two A Class indoor meets in Poland before traveling to the Netherlands for the ISR Grand Prix 2018. The 23.8 average at the Polish Open indicated that MAD Team could become a top contender in the team's first A Class year, as well.

The 25.4 last weekend was eventually the team's highest meet average, including all previous Rookie Class results. MAD Team seems to have the potential to follow up on the 1st place in the Rookie Class at the World Challenge with another victory in the next category.

ISR Grand Prix 2018			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Avg
Rank	A Class		A,F,2	Q,N,C	6,G	J,B,L	O,M,K	D,21,	9,H	7,E	Total	Avg
1	MAD Team	PL	17	34	18	32	38	15	24	25	203	25.4
2	Phoenix	BE	17	28	15	20	28	12	20	19	159	19.9
3	Elevate	NL	13	22	12	21	24	11	20	17	140	17.5
4	Heartbeat Skydive Team	NL	15	20	11	18	22	13	20	19	138	17.3
5	The Funneling Four	NL	14	21	12	18	26	14	17	15	137	17.1
6	Go Figure	NL	16	19	12	23	24	10	16	14	134	16.8
7	Stratosvier	NL	12	20	12	22	24	8	17	18	133	16.6
8	PACT	NL	13	20	11	18	21	12	16	19	130	16.3
9	4NOW	NL	15	18	12	13	21	11	17	17	124	15.5
10	Dopamine En4cement Agency	NL	11	19	10	17	24	11	14	14	120	15.0
11	Manana	NL	12	18	10	13	21	12	14	10	110	13.8
12	BM4	BE	10	7	8	14	16	5	12	12	84	10.5

MAD Team and Phenix at the ISR Grand Prix 2018

The A Class competition for the 3rd place was the closest one of the other previously mentioned battles for bronze medals. Elevate, Heartbeat Skydive Team and The Funneling Four were separated by only four points after the eight rounds in Roosendaal, and each team claimed or tied several highscores.

The battle for bronze was exclusively a Dutch affair, after a team from Poland and a team from Belgium had taken the two top spots. In fact, all other A Class teams were from the Netherlands, with one exception at the very bottom of the leaderboard.

Teams from three different countries (Belgium - Italy - Czech Republic) had won the three sets of AAA Class medals, while two Italian teams finished behind the Czech HF Cubs in the AA Class. The A Class medalists came from Poland, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Heartbeat Skydive Team and The Funneling Four both had a scoring history before entering the A Class competition at the ISR Grand Prix. Heartbeat has competed in the A Class since 2015 and attends outdoor meets, as well. They had finished in 2nd place at the ESL Championship in Saarlouis this year and contributed 8 ESL points to the Dutch account. They missed the next set of medals in Roosendaal by two points, despite a new team indoor record average.

ISR Grand Prix 2018			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Avg
Rank	A Class		A,F,2	Q,N,C	6,G	J,B,L	O,M,K	D,21,	9,H	7,E	Total	Avg
1	MAD Team	PL	17	34	18	32	38	15	24	25	203	25.4
2	Phoenix	BE	17	28	15	20	28	12	20	19	159	19.9
3	Elevate	NL	13	22	12	21	24	11	20	17	140	17.5
4	Heartbeat Skydive Team	NL	15	20	11	18	22	13	20	19	138	17.3
5	The Funneling Four	NL	14	21	12	18	26	14	17	15	137	17.1

Elevate - Heartbeat Skydive Team - The Funneling Four at the ISR Grand Prix 2018

The Funneling Four are training and competing indoors and outdoors, as well. The team was founded in 2016 and competed in the Rookie Class for two years, finishing with the national Rookie Class outdoor title in 2017 and a 3rd place at the ISR Grand Prix 2017.

The Funneling Four then moved up into the A Class this year and won the gold medals at the national outdoor championships. The 17.1 average last weekend was the first scoring number at an indoor competition in the new category and the highest team average at all, three points short of the bronze medal position in Roosendaal.

The A Class bronze medals eventually went to at new team with a highly experienced 4-way competitor in the lineup as the player coach. Paul Hofstee was in the outside center slot for ISR Thunder, one of the best unofficial 4-way amateur teams in the world, and he guided Elevate to the 3rd place and a 17.4 average in Roosendaal.

Three of his former team mates (Sven Ibens, Wesley Claessens and Jacco van Eerden) competed at the same event last weekend and won the gold medals in the AAA Class with ISR FireFlash.